Fraser First Class

"I would like to take a minute to clarify specifically what happened here. The member is correct on the scope of the project along with the dollar amount. However I did not work on any other project while the hardscape/landscape at his residence was under construction. I personally did not spend as much time onsite as my crew did as I was the one obtaining the materials for the project. I was anywhere from 40 minutes - an hour and a half away from supply stores round trip. Just to give anyone reading this a little insight we began construction in May 2011 and were called back August 2011. The member's findings of the cracked masonry flagstone were spot on, the only problem here is that the slab we poured (3000 psi reinforced concrete no less than 4" thick) cracked all the way through in three seperate areas. For those of you that are familiar with Koy Concrete know they provide quality materials and are also licensed by the government to pour for freeway construction. After discussing the problem I found here (ground movement for sure), I called the member to discuss my findings and in no time his personality changed immediately blaming me for the problem. I took a walk over to the pavers that we had installed a couple of years prior to this project and noticed that they showed significant ground movement as well (about a 1/2" - 1" running space between the pavers). To go along with this as we were finishing up our project the member had a foundation company come out to install roughly 30 piers on both of his houses (approximately 1,000 sq ft footprint). This only solidified my conclusion of groundmovement as the culprit. Now to address the irrigation issure the pressure vaccum breaker that we installed was leaking from a connection in the ground. It took me a couple of trips to troubleshoot it, as it had rained quite a bit and the slow leak was hard to locate. That was the only issue with the irrigation system and I did fix it. As for irrigating the perimeter of the hardscape area, the member only wanted to irrigate the area that was landscaped. I suggested an 8 zone irrigation system to cover all areas around the border of the flagstone and he chose to go with only 4. This system ended up covering about 40% of that area. The landscape looked great the last time I was there, and for those of you who might be skeptical I would be happy to email you photos proving that. We did not build the beds as high as I would in a typical suburban home. The member's property is in Cat Springs and the sandy loam soil content is abundant in there in the high areas. The low areas are still comprised of clay. We ammended/raised the area that was to be landscaped, and after planting mulched it with cedar. In the end the member sent me a certified letter requesting that I repair the work under Chapter 27 of the Texas Property Code. I would have been happy to repair the work if it was due to poor workmanship/materials. I wrote back to the member via Certified mail and made it clear to him that I would pay a structural engineer to write a formal report based on his findings. In the end the member never responded to me even after I offered to relay the flagstone at no cost to him (even though ground movement is to blame). I do not see how I could have handled this situation any better. If anyone would like any references of projects completed that are comparable to this one, feel free to contact me and I will provide you with a multitude of names/numbers. Thank you for taking time to read my side of the story! Sincerely, Douglas Fraser"